Healthy BMI thresholds lowered for Asians

The body mass index (BMI) thresholds for obesity have been lowered for Asian people to reflect the fact that they are at risk of conditions such as type-2 diabetes at a lower BMI than people of white European descent.

New guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) states that a BMI of 23 should now indicate an increased risk of type-2 diabetes in south Asian and Chinese populations, while a BMI of 27.5 signals a high risk of the disease.

Professor Mike Kelly, director of the institute's Centre for Public Health, explained that excess body fat contributes to more than half of all cases of type-2 diabetes.

'The number of people affected by these health conditions is far greater among black, Asian and other minority ethnic groups - despite rates of obesity among these groups being similar to the white population,' he revealed.

Professor Kelly also suggested that the BMI figure could fall even further in future, as more research is needed to determine the threshold below which people from minority ethnic groups are at risk of weight-related diseases.

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